History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62.s12: § 15. Dilir ravages country round Bijapur.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c62.s12
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§ 15. Dilir ravages country round Bijapur.
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Stung by the Emperor's reproaches and disillusioned by Masaud's abandonment of his insincere peace negotiations, Dilir Khan resumed the campaign. Despairing of taking Bijapur by siege or coup de main, and afraid of being attacked by Shivaji in the rear if he opened siege-trenches, the Mughal general deposited his heavy artillery and unnecessary baggage at Bahmanhalli, left the environs of the city on 14th November and marched westwards, intending to invade the Miraj-Panhala region and create a diversion there, which would quickly recall Shivaji home. The scheme seemed promising, as Shambhuji bragged of his ability to capture forts quickly with his Maratha followers and thus make the progress of the imperialists easy, while the petty chiefs (nayak-wars) of Miraj had been already won over by a Mughal agent.
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But his first work was to ravage the Bijapuri territory with insane cruelty. By way of Bahmanhalli, Maknapur, and Jalgeri, he reached Tikota (13 m. w. of Bijapur), a rich and populous village, where the wealthy men of the neighbourhood had taken refuge with their families. "The Mughals were utterly unexpected. When Ikhlas Khan with [Dilir's] vanguard arrived there and began to plunder it, the wives of the Hindus and Muslims with their children jumped into the wells near their houses and committed suicide. The village was utterly sacked. Nearly 3,000 men, both Hindus and Muslims, were taken prisoner [for being sold into slavery.].........Leaving Tikota on 18th November, by way of Honvad and Telsang, ravaging the country and carrying off the people as slaves, the imperialists reached Athni (43 m. w. of Bijapur)." Here, according to the English factory records, a breach took place between the Mughal general and his Maratha ally. Athni, "a considerable mart," was burnt down and Dilir proposed to sell the inhabitants who were all Hindus into slavery. Shambhuji objected to it, but was over-ruled, and began to grow sick of his associates. On 21st November, Dilir left Athni for Ainapur, 12 miles westwards, but learnt on the way that Shambhuji had fled away to Bijapur the night before. Dilir immediately turned back towards Bijapur and sent his agent Khwajah Abdur Razzaq to that city to bribe the regent to arrest and deliver up the Maratha Prince (28th.) In the night of the 30th, Shambhuji, getting scent of the matter, slipped out of Bijapur, fell in with an escort sent by his father, and arrived at Panhala about the 4th of December.
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From Ainapur Dilir Khan had faced round. Making a wide detour round the south side of Bijapur city, by way of Savalgi, Kakhandki, Ukli, and Mangali, he raided the fertile and flourishing valleys of the Don and the Krishna,—the former of which was known as the granary of Bijapur,—laid waste all the gardens, fields, and villages on the way, took all their inhabitants prisoner, and then reached Aliabad (6 miles n. e. of the city) on 4th December, and made it his base of operations. [B.S. 500.]
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§16. Dilir's siege of Bijapur, Dec. 1679.
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From this place he used to march out daily with his guns and men and exhaust his ammunition soldiers and horses by wildly firing at the impregnable fort-walls, one day from this suburb, another day from that. "The fort-guns killed many Mughal soldiers and elephants. The Deccanis made gallant sorties in which they lost heavily. Some of the Mughal cannon-balls fell inside the city." This fruitless artillery duel took place day after day. "In spite of his having 20,000 troopers under his command, Dilir Khan could not invest the fort, but only fired his guns from one point or another." (Dil. 163.) But he utterly destroyed the gardens, houses and cultivation in the many large and prosperous suburbs around Bijapur, and cut the channel which conveyed water from the tank of Shahpur to within the fort. On 22nd December the Deccanis made a sortie from the Allapur (or eastern) gate and repulsed the Mughals with heavy loss. (B.S. 502).
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During this attack Bijapur was denuded of all her old captains except Maloji Ghorpare, his maternal uncle's son Manikji Khare (? Khopdé), and the officers newly appointed by Masaud. The total strength of the garrison was only 5,000, and "even these men were weak from scarcity of food." Masaud's own retainers were placed in charge of the towers, while the other troops were posted in the city, the suburbs and the ditch of the fort. "The Bijapuris were powerless to injure the Mughals. But God willed it that the Mughals would not take the city this time." (B.S. 503). From Shivaji's territory much grain and other necessaries reached the fort daily and caused abundance there, while the scarcity in the besiegers' camp reached its extreme. Dilir in utter disappointment sought for peace, but Masaud declined, as he knew the hopelessness of the Mughal position.
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The quarrel between Shah Alam and Dilir Khan daily grew bitterer. The Prince repeatedly urged Dilir to come away from Bijapur and expel Shivaji from the imperial territory. He even sent a secret message to Masaud, offering to induce the Emperor to make peace with Bijapur and recall Dilir, in return for a bribe of 25,000 hun. Dilir's palpable failure, rather than Shah Alam's complaints, had effect on the Emperor, and he wrote a strong letter of censure to the general, saying, "Your first duty was to guard the imperial dominions. What folly is this that you have practised? You have neither protected my dominions, nor gained your object. Withdraw quickly from the siege of Bijapur to the defence of the empire." The Prince, as the supreme authority in the Deccan, sent instructions to the Mughal officers there not to supply any money, gun or munition to Dilir, and even proclaimed to the captains of that general's army not to obey his order to attack Bijapur, as against the Emperor's wishes. (B.S. 504-505.)
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§ 17. Dilir retires from Bijapur and invades Sagar, 1680.
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Dilir’s position before Bijapur was no longer tenable. His army refused to obey him; sergeants-at-arms sent from the Court pressed him hard to retreat; an agent of the viceroy came to his camp to make peace with Adil Shah over his head. So, on 29th January, 1680, he broke up his camp at Begam Hauz and began his retreat, after having wasted 56 days before the fort of Bijapur.
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Foiled of his purpose and dreading to face his master without being able to show better results for his huge expenditure of men and money, Dilir Khan gave vent to his worst passions, and roamed about like a mad dog, slaying and looting with fiendish cruelty, needlessly inflicting unspeakable misery on the innocent peasants, and turning into a barren wilderness the region from Bijapur city southwards to the Krishna and eastwards to the fork between the Krishna and the Bhima.
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His one aim now was to wreak vengeance by ruining Bijapur territory. On 23rd January he detached Sharza Khan with artillery to ravage the Adoni district. Then he himself with the rest of his army left the environs of Bijapur (29th Jan.) and advanced southwards to the bank of the Krishna, plundering the villages on the way, slaying their defenders and dragging away the remnant of the population into slavery. In one village the offered ransom of Rs. 10,000 was refused, and it was totally looted; the brave headman, who had resisted the entire Mughal army with only 15 musketeers, was slain and the whole population of 2,000 persons with 2,500 heads of cattle was carried off by the invaders. Two other villages bought safety by paying large sums,—in one case Rs. 45,000.
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He next invaded the Berad country whose capital was Sagar, then ruled over by Pam Nayak, one of the most powerful and loyal Hindu feudatories of Bijapur. Practising his usual brigandage all the way, Dilir Khan reached Gogi (20th Feb., 1680), the terror-stricken peasants having deserted their villages on his route before his arrival. Here he pitched his camp to conduct the siege of Sagar, which lay 8 miles south. Pam Nayak offered a ransom of 1½ lakhs of Rupees for his capital, but Dilir would accept nothing less than 15 lakhs. (B.S. 506-509.)
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§ 18. Dilir besieges Sagar; is repulsed.
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But the Berads were then reputed as the bravest soldiery of Southern India, sure shots and hardy hunters. These strong, athletic and patriotic savages were destined to meet Aurangzib's Grand Army itself on almost equal terms a few years later, and now they inflicted a crushing defeat on Dilir Khan.
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On the first day (20th February) he began operations by entrenching at Shahpur, a pettah or walled village nestling under the fort of Sagar. His two wings were placed in two gardens under Abdul Ghafur and Ikhlas Khan; the centre under Dilir himself took post near the canal. All day an exchange of fire from matchlocks and camel-swivels was kept up. In the evening the Berad infantry charged and drove back Abdul Ghafur’s wing with some loss. At sunset Dilir withdrew to Gogi.
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Next morning (21st Feb.) he returned with his entire army and artillery, and breached the gate of Shahpur with his cannon. Standing near the gate on his elephant, he kept encouraging his troops, who entered the village and looted it completely. Ikhlas Khan occupied the village, while a reserve under Dilir’s son stood near the field of crops. The Berad infantry, sheltered behind the parapet of the fort, hillocks and even boulders, plied their matchlocks with deadly effect on the Mughal troops densely crowded in the village. So heavy was his loss and so impossible any effective reply to the enemy’s fire, that Dilir abandoned the village at noon and ordered a retreat to Gogi. But this movement was soon turned into a disastrous rout; the Berads, so long hidden in the passes, rocky nooks and jungles, now charged the retreating Mughals from all sides. Dilir’s son escaped with his bare life. Vast numbers of the Mughals, especially the soldiers dispersed for plunder, were slain or wounded. The imperial cavalry galloped away in a panic, assailed in their backs by the fleet-footed Berads and piteously crying for mercy. The Mughal casualties mounted up to 1,700 men on that day.
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The battle was decisive. Dilir himself, indeed, wanted to halt there for three days and avenge his defeat by a fresh attack upon the Berads. But the spirit of his soldiers was utterly broken and they even declined his offer of Rs. 5,000 as bounty for facing the enemy again. "As he still refused to retreat, the imperial sergeants-at-arms deputed to bring him back to Aurangabad publicly rebuked and abused him, cut his tent-ropes, put guards round his kitchen, and drove him about with daily insults. The soldiers, knowing him to be a disgraced general, loosened their tongue in abuse of him. They resolved to abandon him if he persisted in staying there." (B.S. 509-512.)